15:47 *THE BIG FOUR OF GERMANY* (also known as The Big Four of Teutonic Thrash and the Wikipedia has the article "Teutonic thrash metal" ) I may recommend you to listen in such order and the next ones albums (compositions) of the THRASH METAL GOLD YEAR '1986 : *TANKARD* - Zombie Attack (Zombie Attack) *KREATOR* - Pleasure To Kill (Pleasure To Kill) *SoDoM* - Persecution Mania (Nuclear Winter) *Destruction* - Eternal Devastation (Curse the Gods)
Tom Araya - Bass + Vocals Jeff Hanneman - Lead Guitar Kerry King - Lead Guitar Dave Lombardo - Drums If you decide to listen to Anthrax Deathrider, Soldiers of Metal or Armed and Dangerous > any SHOULD be a first listen 🤟😎🤟
You should listen to grateful dead, terrapin station studio version is a hell of an introduction to them..... If not that song they have tons of great music.
@@rikurodriguesneto6043 The whole phrase together is 'sewn together, joining heads. Just a matter of time til you rip yourselves apart', so the meaning is quite literal. All the lyrics in the song are literal examples of the f'd up shit that happened to people during that time.
@@Patryn71 yeah but to me it seems like there's more going on there.. why would you say to a couple of jews sewn together: "just a matter of time 'til you rip yourselves apart"? Don't you sense some deeper psychological reflections at play there?
@@rikurodriguesneto6043 How much more psychological do you want than literally joining two people together and seeing how long they can take it before inflicting massive damage upon themselves by ripping away from the other person? Were talking actual people here, not articles of clothing.
Personally I think that Chemical Warfare has always been their standout piece. I've probably seen them a dozen times at least live and every tie the crowd goes nuts when they start that song. I also find them to be a far better live band, I don't listen to them much anymore but I'd see them live again in a heartbeat.
They unfortunately have retired as a band so the chances of seeing them live again are probably non-existent. :( I had the pleasure of seeing them back on their South of Heaven tour in '88 w/Overkill & Motorhead as the opening and supporting acts respectively. Great experience. I'm sure they were still good near the end, but seeing them with their original lineup was a treat.
There was a band called Dark Angel from California that were out and about at the same time as the rest of the big 4. They're well worth your time and are still one of the best thrash bands ever
@@pripyat23 I've heard Dark Angel focused a lot on out-heavying Slayer which is only supported by certain Darkness Descends shirts having the tombstone on the back with "Heaviest Thrash Album Ever" or something carved into it lmao
Aw man, I am jealous. I so wanted to be able to see their last tour since I got to see the first two. I was a Sophomore and then Junior for Black Magic and Hell Awaits. We saw them at the side bar of a country bar. The patrons were freaked out by the couple hundred max of us with our devil shirts, long hair and such. I trust that the show you saw flat out ripped!!!
SLAYER has always been one of my favourites and "Angel of Death" is one of the greatest METAL tracks ever. But it is so devastating to see, that so many people, especially young, have no idea what Tom is singing about...
One of the shortest (29 mins Reign In Blood) albums ever and SUCH a game changer. No crap on the album. All killer, no filler. Still have my original vinyl.
Slayer was my enter portal to the more extreme metal. At that time, when I was a little kid, i didn't understand the beauty of Death or Black metal, because Iron Maiden was at that time the hardest and the coolest metal band, so when I discovered older Slayer albums, I totally lost my shit. It sounded so angry, demonic and heavy that I instantly fell in love with thrash metal. Nobody around me, in my class or the nearest social ring listened to that. Only my uncle and dad were listening to these bands, so I could find my path to the bands like Accept, Metallica, AC/DC, Rammstein, Death, Black Sabbath, Sepultura, Cannibal Corpse and many more. I was an outsider at that time (I still am after 12 years), so this music projected my anger to the people who made fun of me. It was different and really bloody. Thanks to this music, I could experience my first relationship, I gained a lot of inner power and now I am finishing my master program at the university. Rock music is the best religion ever! \m/
What always impresses me about Slayer is that you can simultaneously be in awe of their musicianship and be completely hooked into the song at the same time. No other band can do that like Slayer. They are the magicians of metal.
Reign in Blood 1986 Slayer...28 minutes long. Jeff Hanneman 🎸 was inspired by hard core ❤punk of the early 80s and featured his writing process to help create shorter punchier metal songs on this album. Their pinnacle Slayer sound.
On a vacation with my 20 something son, walking through a harbor I saw a smaller sailboat with "SAYLER" on the stern......in the typical SLAYER font. I busted out laughing and explained this to my son......freakin hilarious.
I watch a lot Angel of Death reactions because I remember my first time listening to it (not having been very well-versed in thrash and only having listened to a little metal). I fell in love with thrash because of this album and this track compositionally is so great and has so many cool moments built in that make me want to kick a trash can.
SLAYER!! Seasons of the Abyss is one of my top 10 favorite albums of all time.......in all genres of music! Front to back every song is perfect. My fav is "Dead Skin Mask".
Great songs, the evolution of metal music and bands was very fast in those years. The instruments and recording techniques were really pushed to extreme and new territories to make all the ideas these bands had possible. And Slayer did everything right from the start.
My introduction to Slayer was Hell Awaits. I was discovering thash at military school and a fellow cadet let me borrow his Hell Awaits tape during the break at night time study hall on the barracks. Taps plays afterwards so I settle into my bunk and put the album on headphones in the dark. As that infernal cacophony rises I was sure I was listening to Hell itself. It freaked me out so much I threw my headphones across the room. My roommate on the top bunk is like, what the hell is your problem? Nothing, I said. It is gone now. Subsequently, I revisited Hell Awaits and came to respect it but it took awhile. That first time just freaked me the fck out.
Reign in Blood is a huge milestone. The album is kind of perfect, start to finish. It's short and brutal, but it tells stories and takes you places. Slayer were known to play the whole thing, in order, live. On some tours it only took like ten minutes, they played so fast. A couple of the best shows I ever saw, on the South of Heaven Tour, the album after Reign In Blood.
Would you be opposed to doing a dive into the band Death? Their later albums (like Symbolic and The Sound of Perseverance), while they're death metal, are very thrashy and melodic/progressive/technical at the same time. Would love to hear your thoughts on songs like Symbolic, Crystal Mountain and Without Judgement.
"Chemical Warfare" from Haunting the Chapel, "Raining Blood" from Reign in Blood, "Silent Scream" and "Behind the Crooked Cross" from South of Heaven, basically all of "Seasons in the Abyss:. That's just for starters. We could be here all night, miss! ^_^ !m! SLAAAAAAAYER!!!!!!!
For me musically there is a pre and post Slayer era. At 13 I was already playing guitar and was into Progressive music and also the medal of the day which was motorhead, Megadeth Metallica etc... but in the 1986 I purchased slayer's Reign in Blood album I think I was 13 years old and it completely altered the way in which I played guitar, primarily because I'm not really heard riffing that was that precise and that manic simultaneously before. There is a riff in Raining Blood that is a very fast Palm muted triplet and I could not discern what that was I'd never heard anything like that before. Not at that speed anyway and I thought it was a whole note which it isn't and playing along with that album was a Quantum Leap Forward in figuring out the dexterous element of thrash guitar playing thrash guitar playing. To this day I think Raining Blood blood is in fact a high watermark in the song craft of early thrash.
For more thrash, I can suggest a lot of bands: Vio-Lence, Death Angel, Kreator, Tankard, Sodom, Sepultura, Destruction, Overkill, Razor, Coroner, Annihilator, Exodus, Violent Force, Hallows Eve, Violator, Nuclear Assault ... or perhaps a more 'crossover' approach (bands that mix thrash and hardcore), like D.R.I., Suicidal Tendencies, Ratos de Porão, Excel, Stormtroopers of Death, Cro-Mags, etc
Good selection to get into it. The Reign In Blood album lasts 28 minutes in total and is killer all the way through. You only heard the beginning. Enjoy when ready 😊
Best 28 minutes of thrash that money can buy. To think at or around the same time Rick Rubin was producing this he was producing Beastie Boys and getting Def Jam on its way to becoming what it became. Legendary the whole thing.
Early Slayer ('Show no mercy'... 'Live undead' ... 'Hell awaits') was from 1983 to 1985 when they were still kids who were in awe of bands like Metallica and Megadeth... Slayer was signed to Metal Blade records and their sound was still raw and developing under label head Brian Slagel... Kerry King (guitar) said that they used a lot of reverb on their guitars to try keep up w/ the big bands of the thrash metal era... In 1986, Slayer signed w/ Def Jam and producer Rick Rubin, and he wanted to remake Slayer to set them apart from every other thrash band... Kerry King recalled recording 'Reign in blood' w/ Rubin and the producer took out the reverb on King and Jeff Hanneman's guitars, and King heard the new, unique sound and went, "Wow, why didn't we think of that?" 'Reign in blood' was the album that pushed Slayer from a struggling indie band to a headliner and it set a new standard of drumming speed and intensity... both w/ guitars and lyrics (They went from horror movie lyrics to actual, real-life horrors) 🤘🤘
I'm not a big thrash listener but Angel of Death is probabky my favourite metal track ever because it is just so perfect - the transitions, the crazy moments like the scream and the super fast outro, and - excuse me for getting really dark - if you're going to write a song about the holocaust I think thrash is the best and possibly only genre that fits. This song puts in my mind the images of the trains coming in and out every day, the way the Nazis tried to just do it as fast as possible and get rid of the evidence etc. Grim, horrible subject matter but I don't think the song is disrespectful, it's more like a musical monument if that makes sense
Kira, you really should just listen to all of "Reign in Blood". It is among the top 3 Thrash Metal albums released. As for Anthrax, I would suggest 'Among the Living" as your next cut. It is the title track of their 1987 "Among the Living" album. The song was inspired by the book "The Stand" by Stephen King. Great song. Looking forward to more Thrash in 2024!!!!
SLAYER! I'm so glad you finally got here and seem to be into it, Kira. I do hope you give Reign in Blood a listen. It's easily among the best thrash albums of all time.
Hell Awaits is a pretty great album, and the EP/album that came before are pretty good as well, but it's Raining Blood where Slayer really became Slayer. Everyone in the band just levelled up big time, but specifically Dave Lombardo, their drummer, absolutely transformed his playing and their sound because of it. And you can see that clearly between the tracks Hell Awaits and Angel of Death...both are FAST, but that overpowering energy on Angel is 100% Dave's drumming being much better than before. Anyway, great reaction. Another band that is often overlooked (and was by me for decades), and should actually be in the big 4 (imo) is Testament. Like Slayer, their first couple are good, but can sometimes feel like K-Mart Metallica. But once they hit their 3rd and 4th albums it was off to the races. Meanwhile, once you hit the 90s and the other bands are floundering around trying to sound like Pantera or Alice in Chains, Testament just honed their style to a razor-sharp precision and are STILL killing it.
Reign in blood is the only slayer album I've bought, and it's mostly for Angel of death and Raining blood, those two songs are just insane 😁 If this is inside your spectrum of tolerance, I can recommend Bolt thrower's last album Those Once Loyal. This is by far their best album in my opinion. The vocals are death growls, but the instrumentation isn't more extreme than thrash. The entire album is about WW1, but doesn't talk about the killing as much as the experiences of the soldiers and the memory of the fallen. Hard to pick out a single song to recommend since the sound on all the songs are very similar, but the title song Those Once Loyal is a safe bet. It was my favorite album for a good many years.
Loved your reaction to the final fill on Angel of Death, such an incredible moment. Hell Awaits is my favorite Slayer album, glad you got a track off there (though personally I think At Dawn They Sleep is the coolest track). They're clearly solidifying the trademark Slayer sound, but it's not quite as polished as Reign in Blood. To my ears the lower-fi production on Hell Awaits almost gives the music a claustrophobic feeling, as if it was the music actually playing in the corridors of Hell
You should still do Post Mortem/Raining Blood..... in fact...this whole album is awesome. Also, if you haven't yet listened to them... Seasons in the Abyss and Dead Skin Mask are a must...
When you get to the German Big 4... KREATOR - Betrayer !!! ❤❤❤. One of the greatest thrash songs of all time, by any artist and Coroner - No More Color
If you like instrumental thrash songs check out Death Angel's The Ultra-Violence. Fun fact about that song: A segment od the song was on a Hardee's/ Carls Jr commercial a couple years ago.
I see Reign in Blood tour in Milano, Italy, May 1987. The most devastating event in my life...when starting Necrophobic, total delirium broke out! Dave Lombardo, the best drummer to all time! ❤
For all three albums you must have been there at that time. Before Slayer there was nothing like slayer before. Everytime of launch of these albums we were blown away. The scream of Tom at the beginning of Angel of Death. Man. No band could come near Slayer. Fast, tight as hell, best dtummer and best riffs you can sing along with. What a time.
"No band could come near Slayer." Go listen to Canadian thrashers Razor, then. Lots of good stuff from their 80s material to choose from, like Legacy of Doom, Evil Invaders, Hypertension, Violent Restitution, A.O.D., just to name a few. Their later stuff is also good, but Bob Reid is not the screaming powerhouse that Stace McLaren was. Plus, the production on their last two albums is questionable.
I wouldn't call them the best (that's still SLAYER! for me), but otherwise I agree. I love Testament and I don't think they've ever gotten the attention they deserve. From a pure vocal standpoint Chuck Billy might be my favourite thrash singer.
When i was a teen, i couldn't get enough Obituary especially the Cause of Death album. For some reason i think you would enjoy Cathedral which is a different sound. Give Ride and Midnight Mountain a listen. I could be wrong though.
Man, Hell Awaits is my favourite Slayer song. It's rare that someone chooses this to react to! Also there's a mindblowing drumcam video of Lombardo performing Angel of Death on yt! Cheers!
I don't know about you, but I prefer the live version on Decade of Aggression. The sound on it is huge and I feel it just makes those opening measures groove even harder.
Love Slayer's early material, always felt very raw compared to a lot of their contemporaries. One of the best thrash instrumentals is by Death Angel - The Ultra Violence, top notch.
Haven't watched your reactions for quite a while. Nice to see the progress - just a few years ago the pure thrash metal caused a terror in your face, now you seem to be genuinely enjoying it. Time to return to Sepultura, now you are obviously ready :)
kira, dressed all in black, jamming out to Black Magic 🖤 I wish you would've listened to Postmortem as well, for the transitions. If you want the best thrash/death badass guitar riffs check out Bolt Thrower.
wow you went way back with Black Magic. hehe. im 52 and this is the music I grew up listening to and still do today. now check out Black Metal by the band Venom if you dare. lol
I'm early in the comments here and might have your eye, as trash goes it encompasses such a huge spectrum and had a hay day and then now is having a Resurgence which is awesome but reggarding bands that you would not normally hear about that are absolutely excellent are New Jersey's Whiplash. their second album Ticket to Mayhem is simply an amazing concise thrash metal album. It's not particularly long it gets its point across but it's very musical it covers a lot of ground and yet it's super intense , and in some wayys feels more like the Germanic school of thrash like Sodom, or Kreeatorr in it's sheer energgy...with the Highlight track being "The burning of Atlanta." And on the opposite end of the spectrum opposite end of the spectrum is Canada's Annihilator who are and were for all intents and purposes a progressive thrash metal band band so you get precise musicianship and much more focused songwriting thematically and perhaps less intensity but they still do what they do amazingly well. I would recommend the track "Alison Hell" as a good introduction Lastly the brilliant and never got their fair share Cyclone Temple whose album "I hate therefore I am "came along too late in the game to ever be treated fairly but it is a brilliant brilliant record. Highlight track on that album would be "Why" Cheers
Come on...... there's some gold in the above comment if I do say so myself. Definitely Amy you towards some bands most people don't really get to in their thrash journey and they are all awesome
Happy new year Kira!!, I wish you much success, thank you for cheering us up and enchanting us with your experiences and reactions Will you be doing something soon on "Kira was a diver"?. ...I hope it is well-written
10:42 Another opener, indeed🙂 They opened with it (at least I think they opened with it, but I was VERY drunk at the time so I could very well be wrong) when I saw them at the Roskilde Festival 20+ years ago. And in my alcohol (lots and lots and LOTS of alcohol) induced wisdom, I decided to join in on the opening scream. Result? Completely messed up my voice and was barely able to make words the next couple of days😂 The next day (once again, ridiculously drunk), I decided it would be great fun if I went to the lost and found and asked if they had my voice. I was the only one who thought it was funny😂 Ah, the good old days...
hi everyone! hope you had a lovely christmas & happy NY. i'm back for 2024! let's make it a good year!
great reaction!
Hi. With Happy New York you too!)
I want to recommend you to listen the OverKill thrash metal)
15:47 *THE BIG FOUR OF GERMANY* (also known as The Big Four of Teutonic Thrash
and the Wikipedia has the article "Teutonic thrash metal" )
I may recommend you to listen in such order and the next ones albums (compositions)
of the THRASH METAL GOLD YEAR '1986 :
*TANKARD* - Zombie Attack (Zombie Attack)
*KREATOR* - Pleasure To Kill (Pleasure To Kill)
*SoDoM* - Persecution Mania (Nuclear Winter)
*Destruction* - Eternal Devastation (Curse the Gods)
Tom Araya - Bass + Vocals
Jeff Hanneman - Lead Guitar
Kerry King - Lead Guitar
Dave Lombardo - Drums
If you decide to listen to Anthrax
Deathrider, Soldiers of Metal or Armed and Dangerous > any SHOULD be a first listen 🤟😎🤟
You should listen to grateful dead, terrapin station studio version is a hell of an introduction to them..... If not that song they have tons of great music.
Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman wrote "Angel of Death" after reading books about Nazi physician Josef Mengele while on tour with the band.
My homie got to play it in class as part of a history project
The line "just a matter of time 'til you rip yourselves apart" is really interesting.. almost like it's talking about the Nazi regime itself
@@rikurodriguesneto6043 The whole phrase together is 'sewn together, joining heads. Just a matter of time til you rip yourselves apart', so the meaning is quite literal. All the lyrics in the song are literal examples of the f'd up shit that happened to people during that time.
@@Patryn71 yeah but to me it seems like there's more going on there.. why would you say to a couple of jews sewn together: "just a matter of time 'til you rip yourselves apart"? Don't you sense some deeper psychological reflections at play there?
@@rikurodriguesneto6043 How much more psychological do you want than literally joining two people together and seeing how long they can take it before inflicting massive damage upon themselves by ripping away from the other person? Were talking actual people here, not articles of clothing.
Reign in blood was considered one of the most influential albums created at the time. Its very strong start to finish.
Please a reaction to entre "Reign in blood" album!
Absolutely agree you! ❤
One could argue that it is one of the most influential metal records ever.
@@snuffcore9686 It's peak thrash, no doubt about it
@@snuffcore9686wouldn’t say that
The "demons" in the 'Hell Awaits' intro is singer Tom Araya saying "join us" which was then reversed on the tape. Great start to the new year!
I hear it was a sample from "Evil Dead" movie (reversed, yes).
Cool! Another way of saying Walk among us😝🤘🏴☠️🔥
@@TheUmbralPresence It's funny how Evil Dead was so influential to extreme metal in general, along with The Exorcist and Cannibal Holocaust.
Post Mortem and criminally insane are amazing songs
I actually think Postmortem and the lead into Raining Blood is the most epic moment in metal history, absolutely brilliant
Headbanging to Angel of Death? I believe she's ready for the next level !
Yes! Sepultura or maybe even Morbid Angel?
Personally I think that Chemical Warfare has always been their standout piece. I've probably seen them a dozen times at least live and every tie the crowd goes nuts when they start that song. I also find them to be a far better live band, I don't listen to them much anymore but I'd see them live again in a heartbeat.
They unfortunately have retired as a band so the chances of seeing them live again are probably non-existent. :(
I had the pleasure of seeing them back on their South of Heaven tour in '88 w/Overkill & Motorhead as the opening and supporting acts respectively. Great experience. I'm sure they were still good near the end, but seeing them with their original lineup was a treat.
Even with just 3 or 4 songs depending on the version, haunting the chapel was always my favourite slayer album.
Congratulations UA-cam…it took a few years, but we got Kira to go from metal head newbie to Angel of Death enjoyer!!!
My favorite track with Lombardo drumming is actually Ghosts of War. So hard.
such an underrated song! Love it
Epidemic
Yeah buddy.
Final drum fills.. gosh!
RISE
There was a band called Dark Angel from California that were out and about at the same time as the rest of the big 4. They're well worth your time and are still one of the best thrash bands ever
More extreme than Slayer and to be honest, most death metal bands too despite playing thrash like Slayer
@@pripyat23 I've heard Dark Angel focused a lot on out-heavying Slayer which is only supported by certain Darkness Descends shirts having the tombstone on the back with "Heaviest Thrash Album Ever" or something carved into it lmao
Glad you are listening to this fantastic band again! Slaaaaaayyyyeeeeerrrr!!!!
SLAYERRRRRRR
My personal favorite Slayer song is At Dawn They Sleep, the vampire vibe is so good.
Hell Awaits is my favorite Slayer album. The riffs are just evil and the songwriting is great.
Amazing song
@@TheAntiChryslerCrypts of Eternity my man
I had the oportunity to see Slayer on their final world tour (2019). They killed it. What a show
Same! And they really did
No you didn't.
Aw man, I am jealous. I so wanted to be able to see their last tour since I got to see the first two. I was a Sophomore and then Junior for Black Magic and Hell Awaits. We saw them at the side bar of a country bar. The patrons were freaked out by the couple hundred max of us with our devil shirts, long hair and such. I trust that the show you saw flat out ripped!!!
You should listen to “At dawn they sleep”. Their greatest song in my opinion
Finally. You're right man. It's their best.
SLAYER has always been one of my favourites and "Angel of Death" is one of the greatest METAL tracks ever. But it is so devastating to see, that so many people, especially young, have no idea what Tom is singing about...
One of the shortest (29 mins Reign In Blood) albums ever and SUCH a game changer. No crap on the album. All killer, no filler. Still have my original vinyl.
One thing about tom he got better and better such a bad ass front man so glad i got to see slayer live
Slayer was my enter portal to the more extreme metal. At that time, when I was a little kid, i didn't understand the beauty of Death or Black metal, because Iron Maiden was at that time the hardest and the coolest metal band, so when I discovered older Slayer albums, I totally lost my shit. It sounded so angry, demonic and heavy that I instantly fell in love with thrash metal. Nobody around me, in my class or the nearest social ring listened to that. Only my uncle and dad were listening to these bands, so I could find my path to the bands like Accept, Metallica, AC/DC, Rammstein, Death, Black Sabbath, Sepultura, Cannibal Corpse and many more. I was an outsider at that time (I still am after 12 years), so this music projected my anger to the people who made fun of me. It was different and really bloody. Thanks to this music, I could experience my first relationship, I gained a lot of inner power and now I am finishing my master program at the university. Rock music is the best religion ever! \m/
Rick Rubin had a lot to do with the more "honed in/polished" sound of Reign in Blood than their earlier albums :)
My Favorite Slayer album is Decade of Aggression Live album from 1991 - This is the Opener Hell awaits Amazing
What always impresses me about Slayer is that you can simultaneously be in awe of their musicianship and be completely hooked into the song at the same time. No other band can do that like Slayer. They are the magicians of metal.
Reign in Blood 1986 Slayer...28 minutes long. Jeff Hanneman 🎸 was inspired by hard core ❤punk of the early 80s and featured his writing process to help create shorter punchier metal songs on this album. Their pinnacle Slayer sound.
Remember flipping the cassette over to listen to it multiple times? Good times.
Sometimes I put "Angel of death" to play inside my pocket at work, it's always fun to see others reactions haha
...and you work at Synagogue?)
IDK why but I always come back to Show No Mercy. Rain in blood is awesome. Early thrash rocks
On a vacation with my 20 something son, walking through a harbor I saw a smaller sailboat with "SAYLER" on the stern......in the typical SLAYER font. I busted out laughing and explained this to my son......freakin hilarious.
" Ohh my neck"😂😂😂😂😂 🤘🤘
Awesome and funny reaction.
Happy new year Kira!!!
I watch a lot Angel of Death reactions because I remember my first time listening to it (not having been very well-versed in thrash and only having listened to a little metal). I fell in love with thrash because of this album and this track compositionally is so great and has so many cool moments built in that make me want to kick a trash can.
Dave Lombardo is THE best metal drummer. Dude's awesome.
SLAYER!! Seasons of the Abyss is one of my top 10 favorite albums of all time.......in all genres of music! Front to back every song is perfect. My fav is "Dead Skin Mask".
I got to see them on that tour. Their encore was angel of death. Awesome show. Testament opened for them and they killed it also.
I wish you had listened to the whole "Reign in blood" album. The best thrash album of all times.
Great songs, the evolution of metal music and bands was very fast in those years. The instruments and recording techniques were really pushed to extreme and new territories to make all the ideas these bands had possible. And Slayer did everything right from the start.
My introduction to Slayer was Hell Awaits. I was discovering thash at military school and a fellow cadet let me borrow his Hell Awaits tape during the break at night time study hall on the barracks. Taps plays afterwards so I settle into my bunk and put the album on headphones in the dark. As that infernal cacophony rises I was sure I was listening to Hell itself. It freaked me out so much I threw my headphones across the room. My roommate on the top bunk is like, what the hell is your problem? Nothing, I said. It is gone now.
Subsequently, I revisited Hell Awaits and came to respect it but it took awhile. That first time just freaked me the fck out.
Reign in Blood is a huge milestone. The album is kind of perfect, start to finish. It's short and brutal, but it tells stories and takes you places. Slayer were
known to play the whole thing, in order, live. On some tours it only took like ten minutes, they played so fast. A couple of the best shows I ever saw, on the South of Heaven Tour, the album after Reign In Blood.
Bonded by Blood, Exodus.....one of the best speed/thash metal albums for sure. Don't forget to check out the first Rigor Mortis as well, self titled
Fortunate to see them live.. When that drumkick on "Angel of Death" enters, all your body vibrstes with it. Is amazing!
Would you be opposed to doing a dive into the band Death? Their later albums (like Symbolic and The Sound of Perseverance), while they're death metal, are very thrashy and melodic/progressive/technical at the same time. Would love to hear your thoughts on songs like Symbolic, Crystal Mountain and Without Judgement.
Not to mention lyrics with topics well outside the common ones she refers to in this video. Sound of Perseverance lyrics are enlightening.
the guitar riffs in Angel of Death are INSANE.
"Chemical Warfare" from Haunting the Chapel, "Raining Blood" from Reign in Blood, "Silent Scream" and "Behind the Crooked Cross" from South of Heaven, basically all of "Seasons in the Abyss:. That's just for starters. We could be here all night, miss! ^_^ !m! SLAAAAAAAYER!!!!!!!
For me musically there is a pre and post Slayer era. At 13 I was already playing guitar and was into Progressive music and also the medal of the day which was motorhead, Megadeth Metallica etc... but in the 1986 I purchased slayer's Reign in Blood album I think I was 13 years old and it completely altered the way in which I played guitar, primarily because I'm not really heard riffing that was that precise and that manic simultaneously before. There is a riff in Raining Blood that is a very fast Palm muted triplet and I could not discern what that was I'd never heard anything like that before. Not at that speed anyway and I thought it was a whole note which it isn't and playing along with that album was a Quantum Leap Forward in figuring out the dexterous element of thrash guitar playing thrash guitar playing. To this day I think Raining Blood blood is in fact a high watermark in the song craft of early thrash.
when Reign in blood was released it was a kick in the teeth. Pure, raw, fast, extreme. Awesome.
"Black magic" is one of my favourite songs from Slayer.
"It feels special" - you got it mate. The greatest metal/thrash track of ALL TIME.
For more thrash, I can suggest a lot of bands:
Vio-Lence, Death Angel, Kreator, Tankard, Sodom, Sepultura, Destruction, Overkill, Razor, Coroner, Annihilator, Exodus, Violent Force, Hallows Eve, Violator, Nuclear Assault ... or perhaps a more 'crossover' approach (bands that mix thrash and hardcore), like D.R.I., Suicidal Tendencies, Ratos de Porão, Excel, Stormtroopers of Death, Cro-Mags, etc
Watching non punks/thrashers listen to it is actually really fun. Reaction videos are a very strange concept to me.
As a 56 years old Metalhead is that normal Music for more than 40 years my start as a Metalhead was 1980
Good selection to get into it. The Reign In Blood album lasts 28 minutes in total and is killer all the way through. You only heard the beginning. Enjoy when ready 😊
Best 28 minutes of thrash that money can buy. To think at or around the same time Rick Rubin was producing this he was producing Beastie Boys and getting Def Jam on its way to becoming what it became. Legendary the whole thing.
Reing in Blood is arguably the heaviest album of all time. It's a thrash masterpiece and still hits in 2024. RIP Jeff Hanneman. 🤘
Early Slayer ('Show no mercy'... 'Live undead' ... 'Hell awaits') was from 1983 to 1985 when they were still kids who were in awe of bands like Metallica and Megadeth... Slayer was signed to Metal Blade records and their sound was still raw and developing under label head Brian Slagel... Kerry King (guitar) said that they used a lot of reverb on their guitars to try keep up w/ the big bands of the thrash metal era...
In 1986, Slayer signed w/ Def Jam and producer Rick Rubin, and he wanted to remake Slayer to set them apart from every other thrash band... Kerry King recalled recording 'Reign in blood' w/ Rubin and the producer took out the reverb on King and Jeff Hanneman's guitars, and King heard the new, unique sound and went, "Wow, why didn't we think of that?"
'Reign in blood' was the album that pushed Slayer from a struggling indie band to a headliner and it set a new standard of drumming speed and intensity... both w/ guitars and lyrics (They went from horror movie lyrics to actual, real-life horrors) 🤘🤘
I use to front a SLAYER tribute band and Hell Awaits was the toughest song to sing but one of the easiest to play on bass......F'n SLAYER!!!!!🖤🤘👹
I'm not a big thrash listener but Angel of Death is probabky my favourite metal track ever because it is just so perfect - the transitions, the crazy moments like the scream and the super fast outro, and - excuse me for getting really dark - if you're going to write a song about the holocaust I think thrash is the best and possibly only genre that fits. This song puts in my mind the images of the trains coming in and out every day, the way the Nazis tried to just do it as fast as possible and get rid of the evidence etc. Grim, horrible subject matter but I don't think the song is disrespectful, it's more like a musical monument if that makes sense
Divine Intervention was an underrated album
Dave's and Phil "the filthy animal" Taylor of Motorhead were the best kind of drumming.
Kira, you really should just listen to all of "Reign in Blood". It is among the top 3 Thrash Metal albums released. As for Anthrax, I would suggest 'Among the Living" as your next cut. It is the title track of their 1987 "Among the Living" album. The song was inspired by the book "The Stand" by Stephen King. Great song. Looking forward to more Thrash in 2024!!!!
I remember hearing black magic in the 80s, I've been a Slayer fan ever since 🤟.. even got to meet Tom Araya in Chicago in the early 2000s.
Nice combo of songs
SLAYER! I'm so glad you finally got here and seem to be into it, Kira. I do hope you give Reign in Blood a listen. It's easily among the best thrash albums of all time.
Hell Awaits is a pretty great album, and the EP/album that came before are pretty good as well, but it's Raining Blood where Slayer really became Slayer. Everyone in the band just levelled up big time, but specifically Dave Lombardo, their drummer, absolutely transformed his playing and their sound because of it. And you can see that clearly between the tracks Hell Awaits and Angel of Death...both are FAST, but that overpowering energy on Angel is 100% Dave's drumming being much better than before.
Anyway, great reaction. Another band that is often overlooked (and was by me for decades), and should actually be in the big 4 (imo) is Testament. Like Slayer, their first couple are good, but can sometimes feel like K-Mart Metallica. But once they hit their 3rd and 4th albums it was off to the races. Meanwhile, once you hit the 90s and the other bands are floundering around trying to sound like Pantera or Alice in Chains, Testament just honed their style to a razor-sharp precision and are STILL killing it.
Reign in blood is the only slayer album I've bought, and it's mostly for Angel of death and Raining blood, those two songs are just insane 😁
If this is inside your spectrum of tolerance, I can recommend Bolt thrower's last album Those Once Loyal. This is by far their best album in my opinion. The vocals are death growls, but the instrumentation isn't more extreme than thrash. The entire album is about WW1, but doesn't talk about the killing as much as the experiences of the soldiers and the memory of the fallen. Hard to pick out a single song to recommend since the sound on all the songs are very similar, but the title song Those Once Loyal is a safe bet.
It was my favorite album for a good many years.
...For Victory was my go to album for many years. would be nice to see if she does get to the level of Bolt Thrower and Death at some point.
Loved your reaction to the final fill on Angel of Death, such an incredible moment. Hell Awaits is my favorite Slayer album, glad you got a track off there (though personally I think At Dawn They Sleep is the coolest track). They're clearly solidifying the trademark Slayer sound, but it's not quite as polished as Reign in Blood. To my ears the lower-fi production on Hell Awaits almost gives the music a claustrophobic feeling, as if it was the music actually playing in the corridors of Hell
KMFDM's song Godlike uses a looped sample of the Angel of Death guitar riff.
You'll be Godlike
VIVAT SLAYER !!!
Slayer 2019 Prague Czech republic - amazing concert !!!
You should still do Post Mortem/Raining Blood..... in fact...this whole album is awesome.
Also, if you haven't yet listened to them... Seasons in the Abyss and Dead Skin Mask are a must...
When you get to the German Big 4...
KREATOR - Betrayer !!! ❤❤❤. One of the greatest thrash songs of all time, by any artist
and Coroner - No More Color
Definitely Kreator and Coroner but don't leave out the kings of swiss metal Celtic Frost
great use of that fantastic riff on angel of death in public enemy's she watch channel zero, maybe you'll do some public enemy songs someday
How do Slayer warm up for a gig? They lift hella weights
Hell Awaits is definitely one of their best tracks
The beginning of Hell Awaits is "Join Us" a bunch of times followed by "Damn Heaven". I played it in reverse on my 8 track in college. Ur Welcome 🤘🏻
If you like instrumental thrash songs check out Death Angel's The Ultra-Violence.
Fun fact about that song: A segment od the song was on a Hardee's/ Carls Jr commercial a couple years ago.
I see Reign in Blood tour in Milano, Italy, May 1987. The most devastating event in my life...when starting Necrophobic, total delirium broke out! Dave Lombardo, the best drummer to all time! ❤
Your accent is really cool and I'm glad you liked the tracks. I like Slayer a lot
Post Mortem and Raining Blood are excellent songs!
You should check out Evil Has No Boundaries, The Antichrist and Tormentor from the Show No Mercy album. Great songs.
Best description of Angel of Death. "such a good track, such a funtime" lol
Hell Awaits, is so fck underrated , for me is the best slayer track, more rifs, change tempo, the lirycs,
Yes yes finally more slayer. \m/
in the beginning of hell awaits, they're saying "join us" backwards (:
The 'demons' at the start of Hell Awaits is 'Join Us' played backwards. Classic stuff.
Glad you hit these at the right time of your journey.
For all three albums you must have been there at that time. Before Slayer there was nothing like slayer before. Everytime of launch of these albums we were blown away. The scream of Tom at the beginning of Angel of Death. Man. No band could come near Slayer. Fast, tight as hell, best dtummer and best riffs you can sing along with. What a time.
"No band could come near Slayer."
Go listen to Canadian thrashers Razor, then. Lots of good stuff from their 80s material to choose from, like Legacy of Doom, Evil Invaders, Hypertension, Violent Restitution, A.O.D., just to name a few. Their later stuff is also good, but Bob Reid is not the screaming powerhouse that Stace McLaren was. Plus, the production on their last two albums is questionable.
Ah... Songs from my youth... SLAYER!!!!
You see everyday things and topics, everyday. Have a bit of an escape. Listen to Slayer 🤘🤘🤘
For me the best thrash metal band is Testament. You should listen to them. VERY UNDERRATED band.
I wouldn't call them the best (that's still SLAYER! for me), but otherwise I agree. I love Testament and I don't think they've ever gotten the attention they deserve. From a pure vocal standpoint Chuck Billy might be my favourite thrash singer.
When i was a teen, i couldn't get enough Obituary especially the Cause of Death album. For some reason i think you would enjoy Cathedral which is a different sound. Give Ride and Midnight Mountain a listen. I could be wrong though.
Listen to at dawn they sleep. My absolute favorite song of theirs.
Man, Hell Awaits is my favourite Slayer song. It's rare that someone chooses this to react to! Also there's a mindblowing drumcam video of Lombardo performing Angel of Death on yt! Cheers!
I don't know about you, but I prefer the live version on Decade of Aggression. The sound on it is huge and I feel it just makes those opening measures groove even harder.
Slayer Hell Awaits full album reaction when?? Also Anthrax and Death Angel. I think you'll enjoy...
Love Slayer's early material, always felt very raw compared to a lot of their contemporaries. One of the best thrash instrumentals is by Death Angel - The Ultra Violence, top notch.
Haven't watched your reactions for quite a while. Nice to see the progress - just a few years ago the pure thrash metal caused a terror in your face, now you seem to be genuinely enjoying it. Time to return to Sepultura, now you are obviously ready :)
Criminally insane is criminally underrated...
kira, dressed all in black, jamming out to Black Magic 🖤 I wish you would've listened to Postmortem as well, for the transitions. If you want the best thrash/death badass guitar riffs check out Bolt Thrower.
wow you went way back with Black Magic. hehe. im 52 and this is the music I grew up listening to and still do today. now check out Black Metal by the band Venom if you dare. lol
Hey,
big time thrash nerd here. Would be happy to see more thrash reactions, maybe I will consider the patreon :)
I like to think that each band of the "Big 4" has some especific subject to write about, like Megadeth is politics and Slayer religon.
"Haunting The Chapel" is my favorite record and song by Slayer.
I'm early in the comments here and might have your eye, as trash goes it encompasses such a huge spectrum and had a hay day and then now is having a Resurgence which is awesome but reggarding bands that you would not normally hear about that are absolutely excellent are New Jersey's Whiplash. their second album Ticket to Mayhem is simply an amazing concise thrash metal album. It's not particularly long it gets its point across but it's very musical it covers a lot of ground and yet it's super intense , and in some wayys feels more like the Germanic school of thrash like Sodom, or Kreeatorr in it's sheer energgy...with the Highlight track being "The burning of Atlanta." And on the opposite end of the spectrum opposite end of the spectrum is Canada's Annihilator who are and were for all intents and purposes a progressive thrash metal band band so you get precise musicianship and much more focused songwriting thematically and perhaps less intensity but they still do what they do amazingly well. I would recommend the track "Alison Hell" as a good introduction Lastly the brilliant and never got their fair share Cyclone Temple whose album "I hate therefore I am "came along too late in the game to ever be treated fairly but it is a brilliant brilliant record. Highlight track on that album would be "Why" Cheers
Come on...... there's some gold in the above comment if I do say so myself. Definitely Amy you towards some bands most people don't really get to in their thrash journey and they are all awesome
Happy new year Kira!!, I wish you much success, thank you for cheering us up and enchanting us with your experiences and reactions
Will you be doing something soon on "Kira was a diver"?. ...I hope it is well-written
Hope she will dive in Thrash Metal this 2024-th year)
10:42
Another opener, indeed🙂
They opened with it (at least I think they opened with it, but I was VERY drunk at the time so I could very well be wrong) when I saw them at the Roskilde Festival 20+ years ago.
And in my alcohol (lots and lots and LOTS of alcohol) induced wisdom, I decided to join in on the opening scream.
Result?
Completely messed up my voice and was barely able to make words the next couple of days😂
The next day (once again, ridiculously drunk), I decided it would be great fun if I went to the lost and found and asked if they had my voice.
I was the only one who thought it was funny😂
Ah, the good old days...
Postmortem is my fav.
Good reaction.
Hope you had a good Christmas and a Happy New Years. 🎉🎉
Have a good night. 😊
thank you, you too!!
You really need to hear Slayer Live. Try Raining Blood live @2005 Download Festival or from the Still Reigning tour
i highly recommend song called 'The Ghoul' from the obscure band Pentagram